Flashback
by CanadianChick07
Summary: Macy's reaction to Callen's shooting and her asking Hetty for a transfer. Macy knew it was going to be a long time before they ever found Callen's shooter
1. Chapter 1

Lara Macy had a date that night. She had a date with a very handsome Major in the Marine Corps. She had sworn off all military men, too much like her. But this one… this one made her feel alive. It didn't help that he was very attractive. Macy honestly felt like a teenager when it came to Major Alex Hough. Head over heels.

She had been slipping into her heels when she got that phone call that rocked her life. She saw Sam Hanna's name on the caller ID and rolled her eyes but she knew she better answer it. "This better be close to World War 3, Sam."

"It's G. He just took five to the chest. They're bringing him to Marina Del Ray," Sam said, completely out of breath.

Macy steadied herself against the wall. "Sam… who did this?"

"Drive by, Mace. It doesn't look good."

She told herself to get a grip. Remain professional… but this was G. Callen she was talking about. Remaining professional with him was hard, at best. "I'll call Kensi and Renko."

Lara Macy hung up the phone and couldn't catch her breath. She stared at her phone and texted Alex that something had happened to one of her agents. They had met on the job, hence the reason he knew her real occupation. She didn't bother changing, just grabbed her gun, put it in her purse along with her badge and locked the door.

Along the way, she dialed speed dial 4, for Special Agent Mike Renko. "Mace. I'm sorry to break up with you, but you can't keep calling me this often," he joked.

She got into her car. "Callen. He took 5 to the chest. Get Kensi. Meet me at Marina Del Ray Hospital," she turned the ignition on and took a deep breath.

"What happened?" Renko asked, finally getting over the shock.

"I'm not sure, Mike. Just get Kensi and meet me there."

It was almost a record trip for Macy to get to Marina Del Ray. She took a deep breath, again, and walked into the hospital. She got to the front desk and flashed her badge. "One of my agents was just brought in. Critical."

"His name just says Callen here," the nurse looked up at Macy.

"That would be him," Macy said, sharply. "What's his condition?"

The nurse looked at Macy. "The doctor will be here soon to update you, if you'll just wait over there," she pointed to the waiting room. She saw Sam sitting there and joined him.

"Major Hottie?" Sam joked as he saw her in the dress.

Macy raised an eyebrow. "Not a nice joke, Sam. How's Callen?"

Sam looked away. "Not good, Mace. Not good. You call Renko and Kensi?"

She nodded. "Mike's bringing Kensi. I haven't called Nate yet."

Sam and her stayed silent for a couple minutes. Macy's mind flashed back to many operations with Callen. They worked well together, but both of their strong and stubborn sides clashed often. They especially had their disagreements when Macy was promoted over him but they both knew the reason for that. Macy could put up with bureaucratic bullshit. She knew how to get along and play nice with Washington; Callen did not.

"It could be anyone," Sam finally said, breaking the silence.

Macy nodded. "G has a lot of enemies. Any one of them could try and get him back now. But I just didn't expect it to be on a sidewalk in Venice."

"He was being watched," Sam replied. "He told me he was planning on moving. Felt someone was running surveillance on him."

She studied the clock on the wall and watched the second hand move. "I have a feeling it's going to be a long time before we find out who did this."

* * *

Lara was lying on a cot, watching Callen breathe through many tubes in ICU. Only family was allowed in here, but since he didn't have any, they all took turns sitting with him. Lara told Sam to go home, as well as Nate, Renko, Kensi and Eric. She'd take the night shift.

She heard someone enter the room, expecting a nurse. Instead, she got a a surprise. "Lara," Henrietta Lange said, walking into the room.

She sat up and ran her hands through her hair, putting it in a messy bun. "Hetty. I wasn't expecting you. I thought you were in…"

"Rio," Hetty interrupted. "I was in Rio. You called Vance, who called Sec Nav."

Macy raised an eyebrow. "You got a call from Davenport?"

Hetty nodded. Macy just shook her head. Hetty still had a lot of pull and power up on the hill. "How is he?"

"Very critical. They don't expect him to make it," Macy told the older and much smaller woman. To be truthful, Macy was scared shitless of Henrietta Lange. She never really did understand how a woman of her stature could command such a presence, but Hetty did.

Hetty nodded and took her place in the chair. "You have any idea who may have done this?"

"In broad daylight, in the middle of Venice? I don't have a clue. I don't even know where to start," Macy explained.

Hetty was silent for a minute. "A man like Mr. Callen has a long list of enemies. Anyone of them could have done this."

"Well, we can cross off a few names off the list. Paying a pro hit squad to do a drive by on a federal agent in the middle of Venice, at 5 pm takes a large amount of cash."

"That it does. I've already made some phone calls."

Macy nodded. "That transfer?"

Hetty looked up. "Are you sure it's what you want, Lara?"

She nodded again. "Callen and I… it's not a good idea. I need to get out of Los Angeles. I've had it with the bullshit from Washington."

"There's an opening in Marseille, France for a Agent In Charge position or in Cartagena, Columbia. Your choice," Hetty said.

Lara yawned. "I'll think about it and let you know tomorrow. As soon as Callen is out of the woods, I'm gone."

Hetty nodded. "This reminds you of Rotterdam, doesn't it?"

"I spent 3 weeks at his hospital bed in Landstuhl. It reminds me of Rotterdam a lot, Hetty."

"If I remember correctly, it was the French who were behind it. A man named Michele Giguere. Callen had killed his wife."

Macy nodded. "Special Agent Gibbs was the one to take out Giguere, finally."

"I know," Hetty said.

Macy wondered if there was anything that Hetty didn't know. That mission was completely classified to only certain people. The only reason she knew that Gibbs and Shepard had taken out Giguere was the fact that she had someone take a shot at her a year ago. Sam, Callen and her had to go through all her past missions.

She turned to Hetty. "As soon as Callen is out of the woods, I want that transfer."

Hetty nodded. "I figured as much. Go home Lara. He'll still be here in the morning.. I'll stay with him."


	2. Chapter 2

**It was originally intended as a one-shot. I have a couple other ideas, so this chapter is more of a "filler." I know with NCIS, Blackadder's disappearance wasn't really explained, and neither was Macy's (or very well). The fact that her storyline came about again in NCIS, I think there's a lot of backstory that could be explored. Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

"What do we do now?" Kensi asked. Renko, Sam, Eric, Mace, Nate and Kensi all stood outside Agent G. Callen's room, in ICU. It was a glass room, so they could see in. So far, no news was good news. Callen was still very critical, barely hanging on but, still alive, none the less.

Sam shrugged. "Figure out who did this?"

Nate coughed a little. "That list of enemies is quite long. Good luck."

Macy sighed. "Nate's right. That list is very long. Nate, Renko start going through all of Callen's case files since he's been in NCIS. Anybody who might have been released from prison recently, anyone who may have held a grudge. Anyone."

"You got a hunch, Mace?" Renko asked.

She shook her head. "I got nothing. Sam and I will interrogate Haziq Kaleel. See if he can give up his handler or knows what the hell Michael Rivkin was doing. After we're done, Renko, you and I can start going through all case files that Callen and I worked."

"We already went through most of them," Sam pointed out. "When Kelly Daniels ordered the hit on you, we looked back at all your past files, including ones that you and Callen worked. The only one that stood out was Kelly Daniels, but she's in prison for a long time."

Macy looked at Sam. "Yes, but we looked at them from the angle of why I was being targeted. We need to go through them again to see why Callen would be targeted. Eric, can you get all those files for Renko and Nate to start on? Kensi, you got first watch over Callen," she gave out orders. "Oh, and, Hetty's back."

"I thought she was in Spain?" Eric asked.

Macy shrugged. "I don't really know where the hell Hetty has or hasn't been recently, but she's here now. And I'm assuming has quite the pressure from the Director to find out what the hell happened."

"Great," Sam muttered.

* * *

Renko and Macy were in her office, beginning to go through files. "Tim Harding?"

She ran her hand over her face. "White supremacist, maybe? Had blueprints of the Staples Center, I believe. That was 2 years ago," she said. "Callen barely had any contact with Harding."

Renko put the file in the 'no' pile. "Julia Smith," he said, opening the file.

"Murdered her husband who was a Colonel, I believe. Two shots to the chest. He cheated on her while in Afghanistan with Lieutenant. Butterbar in question was given a dishonorable discharge," Macy recounted the case details. "No pile."

Renko shook his head. "You got a good memory, Mace." He opened another file. "Justin Hutchinson?"

She paused. "Put it in the yes pile," she said. For the amount of cases Callen had worked during his time in Los Angeles with Macy, there wasn't many in the yes pile. Renko and Nate had just touched some of the files during Callen's time with NCIS, but they didn't have many suspects who could and would try to murder a federal agent during broad daylight.

"Want to explain?"

"Hutchinson murdered a female Captain who was based out of Camp Pendleton. The gun was found in his house. There was no motive but the gun was registered to Hutchinson, which explain his prints on the gun," Macy tried to think. "It was a weak case. His alibi was shaky but he was found guilty. He might have been framed, the Captain had made some enemies but how he was set up…"

"Does Hutchinson have the capability to pull off this from in prison?" Renko asked.

She shook her head. "But… his brother is Caleb Hutchinson."

"The British arms dealer?" Renko asked. "He worked with Matty Ray."

Macy nodded. "Yeah. Caleb has the means to pull it off."

"Well should I be getting back in Matty Ray's get up and try and contact Hutchinson? Caleb might talk to Matty Ray, now that Matty Ray's out of prison."

"No," Macy said. "I don't think Caleb Hutchinson is behind this. I've met the guy, undercover, too. He may have been beyond pissed that his brother was thrown in prison for a case based on circumstantial evidence, but I don't think the guy is stupid enough to get back on Callen."

Renko nodded. "I'd have to agree with you." He pulled open a file. "I heard you asked for a transfer?"

Macy shot straight up. "How do you know?"

"I was outside the hospital room," Renko said.

"Mike!" Macy exclaimed. "What the hell?"

"Hetty called me."

"Were you watching me all night?" Macy demanded.

Renko shrugged. "For a little. Someone else was after. "

Macy couldn't believe that she had a tail and had no idea. She was slipping up, thoughts on Callen. Although she was slightly proud that her agents could keep an eye on her and she didn't know. "Did Hetty tell you to?"

He nodded. "I didn't want to. But you know Hetty."

"Why?"

"She was worried someone may come after you. Apparently you have a few enemies. Agent Gibbs?"

Macy rolled her eyes. "You been talking to Nate, Renko?"

He shook his head. "I'm an undercover agent, I can read people too, Mace. So, Marseille or Cartagena?"

"I haven't decided."

* * *

Macy sat at Callen's bedside that night. Eric was going to come and sit beside him after she was done. She struggled with coming to terms with Callen being shot. They had worked a long time together, something that not many people knew about. So far, she had worked with Callen longer than Sam had.

There was one memory that came to mind. They were in Berlin, in 1995. It was a joint CIA and NCIS operation, Callen the CIA agent. Although the United States didn't authorize assassinations, they were there to take out a former Stasi operative. It was their first operation together and Macy, to this date, was surprised it still worked out okay. Macy was a junior agent at the time and Callen was not happy she was NCIS' choice for the operation. It wasn't until Macy killed the Stasi operative's bodyguard that had been hiding against a back wall, that Callen trusted her.

She had also worked with him, when he was a FBI Agent. Those meetings weren't really memorable. Well, they were, but mostly they ended in shouting matches over who was going to get jurisdiction in a case. More than once, bosses or directors would have to get involved. For that, Callen and Macy didn't really work much together while Callen was in the FBI.

Hetty, being the woman that she was, had 'rescued' Callen after his last assignment with the CIA had gone a little wrong. It wasn't Callen's fault but 3 CIA agents ended up dead after an informant blew up a safe house. Callen had been outside at the time. Callen had told Hetty just after joining that the only person he was working with was Macy. And Macy refused. She trusted Callen back then, she trusted him with her life now, but Macy sometimes played by the book, a little more often than Callen liked. In the end, Hetty got her way, and the two of them were partners. More to do with it was the fact that Callen had run off his fair share of partners.

She took his hand. "You're going to get through this. Remember Iraq? We shouldn't have made it out of their alive. But we did." She sniffed back a tear. "We've had our good and bad times and I will miss working with you." She got up and left, not one for talking to someone who couldn't talk back. She paused, noting the two LAPD officers, guarding Callen's door. She looked back and took a deep breath and walked away.


	3. Chapter 3

12 days, 11 hours and 27 minutes after Callen had been hit in the chest five times, was he taken off the respirator and allowed to breath on his own. 2 hours after that, Lara Macy was booked on a flight to Dulles Airport. She told Hetty she'd stay in town, long enough for Callen not to be completely critical and be able to breath on his own. She had decided to take the Special Agent in Charge position in Marseille, France.

Unfortunately for her, Mike Renko was waiting beside the check in desk for the airline. "How'd you know I'd be here, Renko?" Macy asked, annoyed. She wanted to leave without her team knowing. She honestly didn't really have a solid explanation for why she wanted away from Los Angeles, other than things between her and Callen weren't working and she needed a change of scenery. She trusted Hetty would give the team a reasonable answer on why Macy up and left.

Mike Renko shrugged. "I figured you'd be on the first flight out of here after Callen was taken off the respirator. Guess I was right."

"Okay, that explains how, but why, Mike?"

Renko rolled his eyes. "You act so cold and tough and whatever inner personal demons you have, I hope you can work through them. But I know you and you are a good person and this is probably killing you to leave."

"Since when did you become Nate?"

He shrugged again. "I did a pretty piss poor job at trying to act like Nate, didn't I?"

She laughed. "Yeah, you did. But thanks for trying. Now move, I have a plane to catch," she told Mike.

He looked at her. "If you ever need anything, Mace, I am only a phone call away. I will be on the first flight to Marseilles."

Macy smiled. "Same goes for you, Mike," she replied. Finally she dropped her luggage and embraced Mike. She stood there, in his arms for longer than she expected.

She silently wiped a tear from her eye and pulled back. He gave her a smile and a wave and she continued on her way unto the baggage line up. She knew Kensi, Eric, Sam and Nate would all be here if she had of told them. She'd never admit it to Renko, but him coming to see her off meant a lot of it.

"Hey Mace, whatever happened to Major Hottie?" Mike called back.

Macy turned around. "Mike," she warned.

"You end it?" Mike asked.

She shook her head. "I'm not telling you."

Renko laughed. "You didn't end it, did you? Impressive, Mace."

"Bye, Mike," Macy said, finally, and continued on her way. Mike Renko and her had become a lot closer over the years, especially as she was his handler when he went undercover as Matty Ray.

* * *

Macy had arrived in Washington and made her way to the Navy Yard. She was going to have a discussion with Leon Vance, the Director, over the details regarding the new SAC position in Marseilles.

She got off the elevator and went immediately to the stairs. She had been here, many times before. Hell, her and Jenny Shepard used to go out for drinks on a regular basis, even though Macy highly doubted anybody knew about their clandestine meetings. She was about up the stairs when Agent Gibbs came out of MTAC.

"Agent Macy, how are you?"

She eyed him. "Jethro."

"How's Callen?" Gibbs got straight to the point.

Macy looked down at the floor and then back at the legendary agent. "Docs took him off the respirator this morning. Downgraded from two seconds from death to how the hell did he survive."

Gibbs chuckled and took a drink of his coffee. How he was allowed coffee in MTAC, blew Macy's mind. "That's Callen for you. What are you doing in town?"

Macy didn't know how to handle this "nice" Gibbs. The Gibbs she knew, judged her work and abilities from 18 years ago, when she was a Lieutenant in the Corps. She was an ass to Gibbs during her time as a MP, but she was just doing her job. Hell, even Mike Franks defended Macy's actions. "I got the SAC position in Marseille."

"When do you report?"

Macy shrugged. "Going to visit my mom in Cumberland for a couple days, and then head over there. I don't officially start for another three weeks."

"I'm down an agent," Gibbs started to say.

"No," Macy said quickly, knowing what Gibbs would say. She knew Ziva David stayed in Israel and it also meant Gibbs was a man down, now with just McGee and DiNozzo.

Gibbs smiled. "Ah, come on Mace. We'd work great together."

"No," Macy re-iterated. "Now, I have a meeting with Vance." She walked away, quickly, so Gibbs didn't have a chance to say anything else to her. Working with Gibbs would be a disaster.

Like Gibbs, she bypassed Vance's secretary and went right in. A little bit of a force of habit with Jenny, that now carried over to Vance.

"Nice to see you, Agent Macy," Vance said. He gestured to the chairs at his desk and she sat down, with him following.

"Before you even ask, no."

Vance looked at her. "No, to what?"

"Joining Gibbs' team temporarily. Not no, hell no," Macy told Vance, straight up. There was no beating around the bush with Leon Vance. She never bullshitted with him, telling him how it really was. Tact wasn't one of her best abilities. However, when diplomacy was needed, she could deliver. She just hated to and it usually required a trip to the gun range after.

Vance smiled. "I figured that would be your answer. I know you'd like to visit your mom, so we'll keep this short and sweet. I know Naples is the main office in Europe and Marseille is just a field office, but I'm hoping with you being there, we are going to be able to do more out of the Marseilles office. Grace Stevens, who was formerly the SAC in charge really needs to be an undercover agent and not a SAC. I blame that one on Director Shepard. I really would like for you to head up the Force Protection Detachments to take a little bit of pressure off of Naples. Mainly, the Israel and South Africa offices."

"Israel?" Macy said. "I think Mossad isn't a huge fan of me."

He smiled. "Exactly. They know your hands were tied with Rivkin but they know you get the job done and don't beat around the bush. Eli David is not looking forward to working with you. To him, you were a thorn in his side for kicking Rivkin out of Los Angeles."

She looked at Vance. "Awesome. So instead of you dealing with Eli David, I get to deal with him as a fresh new face?"

Leon Vance laughed. "SecNav is all for it. Also, we are wanting to start up a Force Protection Detachment in Cairo so you'd be in charge of overseeing that."

"I can do that," Macy said.

He handed her a huge folder, more like four huge folders. "This is the job requirements and your agents. As we discussed before, the contract is 2 years in Marseille and if you want to change after that, we can look into it."

"Thank you," Macy said, genuinely.

Vance looked her in the eye. "And don't think of this as a demotion, Lara. I know you were the SAC for Los Angeles and that comes with a lot of glitz and glamour and the SAC job in Marseille is a subordinate office. But, you do have a large amount of responsibilities and I would consider this as a promotion."

Macy nodded. "I'm guessing you know who will be telling me that I took a demotion?"

He rolled his eyes. "Owen Granger has just been appointed Assistant Director of NCIS, in Europe. It's not my choice; it's Davenport's. Have friends on the hill paid off for Granger."

"I'm reporting to Owen Granger?" Macy spat out. She hated Granger with a passion. He had previously been at the State Department and he had his hands in too many jars he shouldn't have and wiggled himself onto cases he had no jurisdiction over. As far as Macy was considered, she could deal with Granger when he was with the CIA and he should have stayed there.

Vance shook his head. "No. You are reporting to me. Owen Granger will be at the Naples office. If he interferes with what you are doing, you have my permission to come to me. With that being said, I'm not playing principal."

Macy let out a big sigh of relief. "Does Granger know I have the SAC position in Marseilles?"

"No, will it be a problem?"

Macy shrugged. "It might be for him."

* * *

Sam Hanna came into the office the next day, and went straight for Macy's office. Instead of Lara Macy, he found her office completely cleared out. He checked Nate's office, but the light were off and Nate probably wasn't there yet. He looked around for a solid ten minutes, and no Lara Macy.

"Looking for someone?" Hetty asked him, coming up behind him.

Sam gripped the rail and then looked back at the little ninja. "Yeah. Where's Macy?"

Hetty looked at her watch. "Given the time difference, probably in a meeting with Leon Vance in DC."

"She never mentioned anything last night?"

"That's because she didn't want to," Hetty said.

Kensi came in the door. "Has anyone seen Mace?"

Sam shrugged his shoulders. "DC."

"Well how long is she going to be gone?" Kensi demanded to know.

Hetty sighed. "Get Eric, Renko and Nate in and I will explain." Within ten minutes, the other three remaining people were gathered around a conference room table with Sam and Kensi. "Agent Macy has been promoted to SAC in Marseilles."

"Isn't that a little bit of a demotion?" Sam asked.

Hetty smiled, her signature sly smile. "Not when Leon Vance is done with her."

Kensi, Nate and Eric all stared at Hetty like she was crazy. The only one who wasn't completely shocked by the revelation was Renko. "Renko, what aren't you telling us?" Kensi asked.

"Nothing," Renko said.

Nate looked at him. "Did you know?"

Renko shrugged. "I had my suspicions," he lied.

Eric looked shell shocked. Eric did not handle change well. "Who's going to be in charge now?"

"Me," Hetty said. They all looked at one another. Hetty. Hetty was in charge?! "I'm the new operations manager. Someone needs to look after you children."

Sam rolled his eyes. "We're not children, Hetty."

"No, you are not. And some things will be changing around here. First of all, I have a acquired an old water factory. Beautiful décor inside. Spanish Mission style. Anyways, it will be our new operations center."

"Starting when?" Kensi asked.

"Tomorrow," Hetty answered. "Tomorrow, Miss Blye." Things were definitely changing with Hetty in charge.


End file.
